His resignation as Alibaba chairman doesn’t completely remove him from the company as he will remain a director on Alibaba’s board until its annual shareholder meeting in 2020. He will also remain as a permanent member of the Alibaba Partnership.

“The world is big, and I am still young, so I want to try new things.

“The one thing I can promise everyone is this: Alibaba was never about Jack Ma, but Jack Ma will forever belong to Alibaba.”

Alibaba reported revenues of $39.9bn for the fiscal year ended March 2018.